Mr. W's Blog

8th graders are starting to read the play The Diary of Anne Frank. We will be learning a bit about the holocaust as we study this play. To gain some background information, students should visit this website and explore the content.

http://www.annefrank.org/

Use the Secret Annex Webquest form to recieve credit for this activity.

http://www.webertube.com/video/5403/utah-english-quest

It is not too early to start preparing for Utah English Quest.

http://www.ucte.info/index.php/english-quest

Here are the books for this year’s event.

Maze Runner by James Dashner

Matched by Ally Condie

Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Manhunt by James L. Swanson

If you choose to read the diary of Anne Frank, you must complete your final project for the book by Wednesday, March 16. Your final project may be just about any genre that reflects what you got out of the book. It can be a poster, essay, map, portrait, etc. It does not have to be a written genre, but it must reflect the effort and quality of a final project.

8th graders are continuing to read The Diary of Anne Frank the play. You should upload a one page “journal entry” from the POV of a person in hiding during the holocuast. Submit your work on WSD Online.

We will also be watching a documentary called Paper Clips about a school that studied the holocaust and created a memorial for those that perished. We will be using a listening guide while we watch the film. 

Check out the school’s website at http://69.8.250.59/homepage_pc.cfm?id=78

8th graders! Don’t forget to work on your paper bag book reports. Some of you will be presenting right away when we get back! If you need more information, check out the orginal blog post at http://blog.wsd.net/mawenzel/2010/11/18/paper-bag-book-report/

Happy reading!

As 9th graders are nearing the end of our book, it’s not too early to start working on your final project. Students will be creating three projects to demonstrate what they have learned from their reading of the text. They may choose projects that empasize analytical thinking, visual thinking, and linguistic thinking. Please use the rubric to guide your projects and turn it in with your work to recieve a grade. Download the Whirligig Rubric. Projects are DUE Wednesday, November 17. 3 points extra credit for turning it in early on the 16th, 1 point deducted for turning it in on the 18th, and 3 points deducted if turned in on the 19th. No assignments accepted after the 19th.

9th graders will be held accountable for the work they do in reading time on their English grades for second quarter. They are free to start and stop books as they see fit, but they should finish at least one book before the term ends. Please record your reading with the Reading Time Log.

For this week’s Wednesday Writing, 9th graders should select a quote from Whirligig chapters 1 or 2 and write a one page essay about that quote. Explain why the quote is meaningful. How does it affect your understanding of the text? of the characters? of the world? of your own life? Responses can be creative and draw from your own personal experiences, historical events, current events, literature, music, pop-culture, etc. Please submit your work on WSD Online.

We will be exploring the “Heroic Journey” through Whirligig, a book by Paul Fleischman. This is a short book but involves many issues that teenagers deal with. We will be reading the book in class and 9th graders are responsible for taking notes to analyze the text. Students should record quotes that seem important or signficant for each chapter, plot important events on a timeline, add characteristics to a chart about the main character–Brent, and write down words that are difficult or interesting. Students will also track the 10 steps of the heroic journey throughout Brent’s journey. Students will write a literary analysis of the text when we have finished reading. They will also create a “non-text” genre that focuses on an element of the book.

We will apply the heroic journey model to The Odyssey when we read that work as well.

8th graders final assignment for the quarter is a personal narrative. A personal narrative is a true story (non-fiction) about something memorable that happened in your life. Your work should include an introduction with an interesting lead; a body with sensory detail, dialogue, and action; and a conclusion that wraps things up and tells the reader why this event was important, or what you learned from the event. Have a first draft ready on October 19. The final draft is due on October 26/ We’ll be sharing the final drafts in class in the last week of the month. A rubric is forthcoming.

Also, if you are having trouble remembering what a personal narrative is, we read some examples in class like Gary Soto’s Broken Chain and/or a story about goats and a train-track!